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United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe will be sworn in as the Prime Minister at the Presidential Secretariat at 10.30 am tomorrow (16), UNP General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said.

He also said that the new Cabinet of Ministers will be sworn in on either Monday or Tuesday adding that the position of the Leader of the Opposition will be resolved when Parliament is convened.

Excavators in Sri Lanka have found the skeletal remains of 21 children as well as signs of possible torture of the dead in the biggest mass grave in  the country’s former civil war zone, Mannar, putting a spotlight on the island’s recent record of human rights violations.

So far 276 skeletons have been exhumed, with forensic archaeologist Professor Raj Somadeva saying the number already makes it the “largest mass grave ever explored on the island”.

“We have excavated only 70 per cent of the gravesite, so the body count is bound to be much higher,” Professor Somadeva told The Independent.

Metal objects that appear to bind together the legs of the dead have raised new questions about what happened to the victims in the mass grave.

Who they were – and who killed them – remains uncertain. However experts agree the presence of children shows this was “certainly a [whole] community of people”. 


The excavation, which started in May when a construction worker stumbled upon a human bone, is still in its early stages according to the chief investigation officer of the Mannar mass grave, Dr Saminda Rajapakse.“We still don’t know the exact period of these deaths,” he said.

“We have no idea who the victims are, their names or whether they were Tamil civilians, rebels or Sinhalese soldiers. Nothing.”

Although pottery, porcelain, metal objects and some jewellery worn by the victims have been found at the gravesite, there are no signs of clothes.

While it is too early to hold responsible either the Sri Lankan military or the Tamil Tiger rebels, who fought a bloody civil war from 1983 to 2009, human rights activists and the families of missing people are already demanding justice.

P Nagamma, a 67-year-old Tamil woman, said she believed her 18-year-old son lies buried in the Mannar mass grave. She told The Independent he was arrested by the Sri Lankan military on suspicion of being a terrorist in the early Nineties.

He had just gone out to meet a friend and eyewitnesses told me that some unknown men took him away near the site where they found the grave,” Ms Nagamma said tearfully. “I have been waiting for him for 27 years, somehow hoping he’ll be alive somewhere. But now I think he’s lying in that grave.”

Nagamma was not alone in that belief. Sandrapradasham Niranchan, a lawyer fighting for the families of the disappeared, has filed affidavits on behalf of nine families stating their husbands or sons were taken into custody by the army, navy or unknown groups in Mannar and were among the victims in the mass grave.

“Torturing and killing civilians is a blatant human rights crime. There are children in that mass grave. And we are certain there are more of these gravesites around the country where the disappeared Tamils have been buried,” he said.   

The mass grave in Mannar, a Tamil-majority area, was the scene of a number of battles during the war, in which more than 100,000 people died and at least 20,000 – mostly Tamils – remain missing. 

Rights groups allege both the military and the Tamil Tigers are to blame for civilian deaths and disappearances. However, former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who faces international war crimes charges and was instrumental in ending the long drawn-out conflict, has maintained the Sri Lankan military caused not a single civilian casualty.

A spokesperson for the Sri Lankan military claimed it was not responsible for the grave. “The army is not involved in that gravesite. We had nothing to do with it,” brigadier Sumith Atapattu said.

The Tamil Tigers themselves committed many atrocities, ruthlessly executing soldiers, Tamil civilians who did not support them and sometimes their own guerrilla members. The terrorist group, which had sophisticated air, sea and land units is also accused of using civilians as human shields throughout the conflict.

“It is extremely possible that the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) could be responsible for the people in that grave,” Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, an ethnic Tamil human rights activist, told The Independent.

“But whosoever committed these atrocities has to be held responsible, because this is not just a war crime, but a crime against humanity,” he said. (The Independent)

It is reported that three parliamentarians, who crossed over from the United National Party to support the conspiratorial government, are having discussions to return to the UNP.

According to political sources, parliamentarians Wijeydasa Rajapaksha, S.B. Navinna and Dunesh Gankanda have had discussions over the phone with a leader from the United National Front (UNF). It is also learnt that Wijeydasa Rajapaksha had agreed to forgo a ministerial portfolio if he is appointed as the UNF organizer for either Maharagama or Homagama electorates.

The UNF parliamentarian who is facilitating the discussions with the three MPs is trying to persuade UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to accommodate them by stating that the UNF needs to strengthen its number of legislators in the House, sources said.

The United National Party (UNP) has filed a police complaint over a forged document that claimed to include the contents of a deal between the UNP and Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

The said document is being circulated widely on social media with the forged signatures of UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and TNA leader R. Sampanthan.

UNP MP S.M. Marikkar has lodged the complaint at the police headquarters today.

Political sources say that a group of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) parliamentarians are planning to join the United National Party (UNP) in the future.

SLFP MPs are to be allocated several Cabinet portfolios in the new government after UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is sworn in as Prime Minister on Sunday, sources added.

However, since this will be United National Front led government, the number of Cabinet portfolios will be limited to 30 and the number of State and Deputy Minister portfolios will be limited to 45.

MP Udaya Gammanpila says that the UPFA is ready to leave the role of government. Speaking to media after the Supreme Court’s verdict was delivered, he made this statement. 

“We are ready to leave. Ranil Wickremesinghe has had the opportunity to work as the Prime Minister for the fifth time,” he added.

He further said that the UPFA MP group will meet at 7 pm today (13) to discuss further actions.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was appointed as Sri Lanka's Prime Minister by President Maithripala Sirisena in a controversial move, resigned today (15) as two crucial Supreme Court decisions made the embattled former strongman's efforts to cling to premiership untenable.

Rajapaksa was appointed as the prime minister on October 26 by President Sirisena in a controversial move after sacking Ranil Wickremesinghe, which plunged the country into an unprecedented constitutional crisis.

The Supreme Court on December 14 refused to stay a court order restraining Rajapaksa, 73, from holding the office of Prime Minister until it fully heard the case next month.

The apex court on December 13 unanimously declared that the dissolution of Parliament by Sirisena was "illegal".

Pro-Rajapaksa lawmaker, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, had told reporters that Rajapaksa decided in a meeting on December 14 with President Sirisena to resign to allow the President to appoint a new government.

Wickremesinghe is expected to take oath as Sri Lanka's Prime Minister on December 16.

President Maithripala Sirisena has reportedly agreed to reinstate ousted Prime Minister Wickremesinghe in the post after a discussion with him over the phone on December 14.

Following the historic decision of the Supreme Court today which ruled that the gazette dissolving parliament as unconstitutional, President Maithripala Sirisena accepting defeat after failing to engineer a political coup is said to have requested an urgent meeting with the leaders of the United National Front (UNF).

The request had been made to MP Rauff Hakeem, Leader of the Muslim Congress which is part of the UNF. However, sources say the UNF has not responded to the President yet.

Parliamentarian Mahinda Rajapaksa will resign from the post of premiership after an address to the nation, son of former strongman president Namal Rajapaksa MP tweeted a short while ago.

Namal also said that they will look to form a broader alliance with the SLFP and president Maithripala Sirisena.

The Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by the president to dismiss parliament and hold snap elections, extending a political crisis that has paralysed the island nation for more than six weeks.

The court in Colombo ruled that Maithripala Sirisena’s order to dismiss parliament, issued on 9 November, was unconstitutional.

The unanimous decision by the country’s top judges leaves Sri Lanka without a prime minister or cabinet, nor a 2019 budget in place. Lawmakers have warned that public sector employees could cease being paid from the beginning of next month.

The ruling extends an impasse that started on 26 October, when Sirisena suddenly announced he had dismissed the country’s prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Wickremesinghe declared the dismissal was an “undemocratic coup” and refused to vacate the prime ministerial residence for the man Sirisena appointed to replace him, the country’s former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksa has been unable to rally enough MPs in the country’s parliament to confirm his premiership, and Sirisena has refused to reappoint Wickremesinghe, who he claims was stubborn, arrogant and allowed corruption to flourish.

Sirisena had tried calling an election to break the deadlock but after Thursday’s decision must continue negotiating with Wickremesinghe and other parliamentary leaders.

Fireworks could be heard in Colombo shortly after 5.15pm local time when the decision was announced.

Wickremesinghe said that they expect the President to respect the unanimous verdict."We trust that the President will promptly respect the judgment of the courts. The legislature, judiciary, and the executive are equally important pillars of a democracy and the checks and balances that they provide are crucial to ensuring the sovereignty of its citizens," he said.

The Supreme Court granted leave to proceed in the case involving former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s appeal against the interim order issued by the Court of Appeal which barred Rajapaksa from functioning as Prime Minister. 

On December 3, the Court of Appeal issued an interim order restraining Rajapaksa and his purported Cabinet from functioning until the hearing of the Writ of Quo Warranto filed against them is concluded. 

Rajapaksa and his Cabinet will continue to be restrained from acting in their respective offices until the case is full heard.

The case was heard before a three-judge Supreme Court bench comprising justices Eva Wanasundera, Buwaneka Aluvihare and Vijith Malalgoda today.

Veteran actor W. Jayasiri has denied accepting the once in a lifetime Kalabushana National Award from President Maithripala Sirisena. Posting on his social media page the actor announced his decision while going on to say “With great disgust, I refuse to attend or accept an award from a President who is gambling with the future of the country”.

The actor also said he is unconditionally partisan to any fight to protect democracy despite the political party.